1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to systems, methods, apparatus and/or devices for dressing human and/or animal wounds. More particularly, the invention relates to the field of dressing puncture wounds with a bandage. Accordingly, the general objects of the invention are to provide novel systems, methods, apparatus and/or devices of such character.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bandages are widely used for the treatment of human and animal wounds of various types. These may include the simple application of gauze, taping gauze over the wound, the application of an adhesive strip bandage, or the application of a specialized bandage designed for a particular application. Although there is a wide range of bandages in use today, the most common dressing for a puncture wound due to the use of a blood withdrawal cannula is still primitive. For example, puncture wounds resulting from medical withdrawal of blood from a patient's inner elbow region are typically simply covered with a folded piece of gauze and held in place by bending the patient's elbow to pinch the gauze between the patient's forearm and upper arm. Naturally, requiring a patient to maintain this position for an extended period of time creates a number of problems. These may include (1) wound infection resulting from gauze contamination before application to the patient; (2) wound infection resulting from a patient's unwillingness and/or inability to maintain this position for a sufficient time; (3) discomfort and/or inconvenience to the patient; and/or (4) untidy disposal of the gauze upon removal, as intended or accidentally. For these and other reasons, such a wound may, instead, be dressed by placing the folded gauze over the puncture wound and then taping the gauze to the patient with one or more strips of medical adhesive tape. While this helps ensure that the gauze remains in place longer, it also creates several problems of it's own. These problems include: (1) the risk that the tape will be inadvertently and/or prematurely pulled loose from the patient; (2) the additional time and expense that a phlebotomist must devote to tape the gauze in place; and/or (3) the risk of wound infection resulting from gauze contamination before application to the patient.
There is, accordingly, a need in the art for novel methods, systems and apparatus for more reliably, efficiently and/or economically dressing puncture wounds. Such methods and apparatus should be well-suited to controlled medical environments such as clinics, hospitals, blood banks, blood drives, medical offices, etc. in which blood is intentionally drawn from patients. Further, such methods and apparatus should also be capable of dressing biopsy wounds. However, such methods and apparatus would also be useful to dress accidental puncture wounds. Such methods and apparatus should solve the above stated deficiencies without introducing additional expense and complexity to the blood-removal process. Accordingly, such methods and apparatus should reduce the risk of contamination, be easy to use and require little, if any, packaging.